Industrias Infinito, the Costa Rican subsidiary of Canadian mining company Infinito Oro, that has been trying to develop an open-pit gold mine near the Nicaraguan border for almost two decades, announced in a statement Thursday it is laying off the majority of it’s employees in Costa Rica. Out of the company’s 243 employees, Industrias Infinito will maintain only 20 workers, according to the daily La Nación

The statement read:

“Industrias Infinito regrets, with much pain, to inform the public that the business must implement, as a consequence of the ruling by the Sala I (the Supreme Court’s Civil and Administrative Law Branch), we find ourselves obliged to let go of the services of most of our personnel: hardworking and responsible Costa Ricans that have given their best efforts for the Crucitas mining project, many of them residents of the San Carlos area. As is owed to all Costa Rican employees, the workers can expect the workers’ benefits that are protected in our legislation.”

The Sala I annulled in November Industrias Infinito’s mining concession for an area near Las Crucitas near the Nicaraguan border. The court also rejected all appeals by the mining company putting an end to environmental and legal battle that has been raging since the 1990s.